


Treasure

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, Young Nicholas St. North
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18662647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Fantasy AU with book & movie elements. Young Nicholas St. North is Bandit King, who breaks into the hall of the Nightmare King to steal a rumored great treasure, only to find that said ‘treasure’ is a captive (and extremely rare) ice spirit – Jack Frost. He goes through with the theft anyway, leaving him to figure out what to do with the treasure now that he has him.Either father/son relationship or romance is fine! I just want the focus to be on their relationship. Plus, the world needs more young!North. Such a dashing young scallywag deserves love.+ The other Guardians as North’s band of thieves.++ Pitch tries to reclaim his property.++++If romance: Jack falls for North first and has to persuade him due to (real or perceived) age difference."North’s theft turns into a rescue, but he won’t be leaving the castle of the Nightmare King empty-handed.





	Treasure

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 6/29/2015.

“You are the last guard?“ North said warily. The boy in front of him was slight, with unnaturally pale skin. He was unarmed and dressed in deep blue silks. He did not look like he could fight anyone at all, but North had faced enough magical defenses while on his way to the Nightmare King’s treasure chamber to not let his guard down now. Just because this boy wasn’t a hulking creature of shadows didn’t mean that he wasn’t dangerous.  
  
“Not hardly!” the boy said. He backed away from North’s shadow-dripping sword, putting an overstuffed sofa between them. “I’d guess you took care of whoever the last guard was!”  
  
“Then you are another thief,” North concluded. “You must have great skills and powers to have gotten here without disturbing any guards, especially since you look so young, but it is your bad luck that you decided to steal the Nightmare King’s greatest treasure on the same day that I did. You may be very good at what you do, but this sword and I have never lost a fight yet. I will not treat you like the guards, of course, because I know if you tried to report me to the Nightmare King your fate would be the same. And I want to be better than the Nightmare King in many ways.”  
  
The boy stared at him in confusion. “I…I’m not a thief. I’m Jack Frost. There’s nothing here but me, except for the furniture. There are other treasure rooms belowground; I could show you them, or even the throne room, I can get you inside even when Pitch isn’t here, his greatest treasure might be there! Just take me with you! Because this isn’t a treasure room, it’s a prison!”  
  
North lowered his sword slightly and looked at Jack thoughtfully. “My sources were very reliable in telling me that Pitch kept his greatest treasure in this particular tower—the object that allows him to control the weather and keep everyone in fear of the unending winter he brought with him when he came to this land. And the guards seem to confirm this.”  
  
Jack backed even farther away from North. “Please don’t try to kill me,” he said.  
  
“Why would I do that?” said North. “And if I was going to kill you, I would do it right, not just try.”  
  
Jack looked away and grimaced. “No, you really could only try. You could cause me a lot of pain, but I wouldn’t die. And the reason you might try and the reason I can’t die are the same. I’m a frost sprite. A powerful one. I guess that Pitch never explained to anyone that I’m not an object. I can see how it would have slipped his mind.” He kicked a chair leg. “So anyway, I’m immortal, and I’ve been the one that’s behind a lot of the wind and snow and ice. So that’s maybe why you would try to kill me, even though I never had any choice in the matter.” He slumped. “So that’s about the long and short of it.”  
  
“Ach.” North wiped his blade on the sofa and sheathed it. “I was hoping for something shinier, and easier to carry in my coat. And while I am still not going to kill you, it might be the case that my fellow bandits might. It will be too difficult for them to believe that someone who brings winter could not have fought back against the Nightmare King.” He smiled. “I don’t know when you have last been outside, but winter is still more powerful than dreams to us.”  
  
“So you’re going to leave me here? No! Don’t! Please…” Jack folded his arms, but stepped forward. “You…I can’t threaten you at all. All I can do right now is make a little ice. The reason I can’t do anything else and the reason I couldn’t fight back against Pitch is that he has my staff.”  
  
“Well,” North began, “of course I was not going to leave you here, but I was only wanting to complain that my troop will not be as impressed with me bringing back a skinny new recruit instead of a powerful treasure—wait, what is this about the staff?”  
  
“It’s just a wooden staff, but it has my soul in it,” Jack said. “Pitch keeps it in the throne room. If he destroys it, I’m done for.”  
  
“Well why didn’t you say so before?” North said heartily. He strode forward and slung an arm around Jack’s shoulders before Jack could back away again. “You can get me into the throne room like you said, I will take the staff and you, and you will make the staff look diamond-studded with ice or something in front of my troop! Can you do that? So that they will not know it is you? And we all win! I save face, you are free, Nightmare King cannot threaten winter…”  
  
“How do I know you’ll treat my soul better than Pitch?” Jack asked, wriggling away.  
  
North stopped short, looking puzzled for a moment before his eyes lit up. “You will not need to worry about that! You will steal your soul from me after I show it to the camp! Once everyone except for the watchman is asleep I will give it to you and you can escape to wherever you want to go! It will make you very impressive to everyone, to steal from me. You will be talked about everywhere!”  
  
Jack smiled, for the first time since North had arrived. “Well, that could be fun. But what if…what if I want to stay?”  
  
“Then my bandits would be accusing me of favoritism all the time,” said North. “But this is not the problem of now! We have a throne room to fight towards!”  
  
“Well—alright!” Jack moved back within arm’s reach of North. “You don’t mind that you’ll be doing all the fighting?”  
  
“Oh! How rude of me!” North pulled a massive knife from his belt and handed it to Jack. “Now you can put up good show, be bloody when we return to camp. Good for the story, the bandits will not even ask about how dead you look. Now, I think we are ready!”  
  
North kicked open the heavy door of Jack’s prison like it was nothing. And, Jack considered, hefting the knife in his hand, now that North was here, it really, really was. He followed North with no more hesitation. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> bowlingforgerbils said: I LOVE NORTH!!!


End file.
